image from Deviant art
Are your children morphing into young adults? It’s amazing how quickly they shoot up and mature. Don’t miss the opportunity to create a sturdy relationship between you and your children. It’s easy to let good intentions backfire. Sustain love and respect with these tips:
Protect Dinnertime
Create a routine of always sitting down at dinnertime. This tradition is evaporating, but it does wonders for family bonding. It’s a great opportunity to have a chat and make the cook something special. Compromise by allowing the whole family to do as they wish afterwards, so they don’t feel forced into your company.
Allow Freedom
Your kids are going to want to spend their time with their friends, but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost your major role as a rock and parent. Teenagers are struggling to find themselves and discover their own autonomy. Being a too overbearing parent can really smother them, but you do have to strike a balance between trusting them and guiding them. The best you can do is become a shoulder to cry on and be there when your children need you.
Share Your Feelings
Humanise yourself. Share your thoughts and feelings with your children – it’s a two-way process. They’ll feel closer to you and that they can come to you with uncomfortable issues. Of course, don’t overburden your child, but it’s best to be open.
Respect Their Privacy
It can be tempting, when kids are unresponsive, to pry into their business; especially when you suspect that something is wrong. Trust that they will talk to you about their problems and ask if you’re concerned. If they discover you’ve invaded their privacy, it will feel like a betrayal. Imagine if someone did that to you.
Ask For Their Opinions
Knowing that their ideas and opinions are valued is important in building up your children’s confidence and making them feel like an integral part of the family. Don’t involve yourself in all of their choices. Let them make their own minds up and make their own mistakes. Even if you have deeply-held views, ask your children whether they agree or if they think they’re fair.
Spend Time Together
Don’t just spend all your time together at home. When everyone has a spare day, go for a trip out somewhere like Knowsley Safari Park or a local festival. Building memories will bring the family closer.
Prioritise Yourself Sometimes
The world doesn’t revolve around your children. If you always put them first, prepare for huge egos. Be kind and help them out, but know that sometimes it’s important to put yourself first. You can’t be a doormat for your children.
Things Change
Acknowledge that their time is different to what it was like at your age. Work with these differences and don’t assume that you know what it’s like to be a teenager – you faced different social and economic challenges.
Please see my Disclosure page for more information about this post.
Protect Dinnertime
Create a routine of always sitting down at dinnertime. This tradition is evaporating, but it does wonders for family bonding. It’s a great opportunity to have a chat and make the cook something special. Compromise by allowing the whole family to do as they wish afterwards, so they don’t feel forced into your company.
Allow Freedom
Your kids are going to want to spend their time with their friends, but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost your major role as a rock and parent. Teenagers are struggling to find themselves and discover their own autonomy. Being a too overbearing parent can really smother them, but you do have to strike a balance between trusting them and guiding them. The best you can do is become a shoulder to cry on and be there when your children need you.
Share Your Feelings
Humanise yourself. Share your thoughts and feelings with your children – it’s a two-way process. They’ll feel closer to you and that they can come to you with uncomfortable issues. Of course, don’t overburden your child, but it’s best to be open.
Respect Their Privacy
It can be tempting, when kids are unresponsive, to pry into their business; especially when you suspect that something is wrong. Trust that they will talk to you about their problems and ask if you’re concerned. If they discover you’ve invaded their privacy, it will feel like a betrayal. Imagine if someone did that to you.
Ask For Their Opinions
Knowing that their ideas and opinions are valued is important in building up your children’s confidence and making them feel like an integral part of the family. Don’t involve yourself in all of their choices. Let them make their own minds up and make their own mistakes. Even if you have deeply-held views, ask your children whether they agree or if they think they’re fair.
Spend Time Together
Don’t just spend all your time together at home. When everyone has a spare day, go for a trip out somewhere like Knowsley Safari Park or a local festival. Building memories will bring the family closer.
Prioritise Yourself Sometimes
The world doesn’t revolve around your children. If you always put them first, prepare for huge egos. Be kind and help them out, but know that sometimes it’s important to put yourself first. You can’t be a doormat for your children.
Things Change
Acknowledge that their time is different to what it was like at your age. Work with these differences and don’t assume that you know what it’s like to be a teenager – you faced different social and economic challenges.
Please see my Disclosure page for more information about this post.